Prostitutes Fight Back

February 15, 2006 | By: James Brightman

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Tired of seeing their virtual counterparts abused in games like GTA, prostitutes are urging consumers to boycott GTA because it encourages people to denigrate and act violently towards them. Yes, this is a real story. No, we've not suddenly turned into The Onion.

Just when you thought you'd seen/heard it all, this comes along. That link takes you to the website of Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP), which "focuses on improving the lives of sex industry workers by promoting safety, dignity and diveity [sic] in sex work and fosters an environment that affirms individual choices and occupational rights."

SWOP is upset by the way prostitutes are treated in Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto. In the interest of protecting sex workers' civil rights, and as "concerned parents," SWOP recently issued a statement protesting GTA.

"Although SWOP-USA will always be adamantly opposed to any and all forms of censorship, as concerned parents ourselves, we wish to inform other parents of the potential danger extremely violent video games pose to children," it begins.

SWOP continues, "And in the interest of furthering sex worker's human and civil rights to life and personal safety, we object to any media which represents sex workers as legitimate targets of violence, rape and murder. Censorship is a blight on the freedoms we hold dear but we wholeheartedly encourage citizens to vote with their dollars by refusing to purchase products which encourage the denigration and destruction of prostitutes. Since the video game Grand Theft Auto accrues points to players for the depiction of the rape and murder of prostitutes, SWOP-USA calls on all parents and all gamers to boycott Grand Theft Auto."

It should be noted that players can attack or kill prostitutes in the game, but then again players can subject just about any character in the game to violence. Furthermore, players cannot actively go around raping prostitutes, although the game's story does allude to a rape.

SWOP's statement goes on to point readers in the direction of Dr. David Walsh and the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), citing a document from NIMF published in 2001.

"Concerned parents and citizens are encouraged to read pertinent research regarding child development and interactive representations of violence," says SWOP.

So there you have it. And really, who knows more about child development and moral values than prostitutes?